I got a peculiar text message last night from a friend notorious for his Yankees panic attacks. It read, “winner of tomorow night is the winner of the series.” I hadn’t realized that MLB had awarded the Angels two more wins and the Yankees one. Alas, this is common for Yankees fans post-2004.
There is no need to panic. The Yankees were bound to lose in the postseason. Perhaps fans were spoiled by the five straight wins to kick things off. Perhaps fans are more than a bit peeved by Joe Girardi’s pitching moves yesterday. That’s fine. But please, don’t act like tonight is a do or die game. It is not. A Yankees win would be key, but it is by no means necessary.
We knew this would be a tough series. The Angels are far better than the Twins. Heading into the series, no one thought it would be a surprise to see it go to seven games. The Yankees got everyone a bit excited by taking the first two, but that’s part of the home field advantage script. Win the two at home and you’re guaranteed to bring the series back even if you drop the three road games. The Yankees could lose every game in Anaheim this series and it would still go back to the Bronx.
That said, the Yankees are certainly taking this game seriously. They’re trotting out their ace, CC Sabathia, on three days’ rest, which in this situation is absolutely the right move. He hasn’t thrown on fewer than four days’ rest all season, which helped lighten his work load. Starting CC today also means that he can start a potential Game 7, though the hope is that they don’t even get there.
Yanks’ nemesis Scott Kazmir takes the mound for the Angels. He had a strange year, starting off terribly and not getting better as the season went along. He hit the DL after his start on May 20, a 4.1-inning, seven-run affair, and returned on June 27 to similarly terrible results — though he did bring his ERA down from 7.69 to 5.92. He pitched well after the trade to the Angels, though all of his starts came in September, when results are dubious. His worst start in that span came against the Yankees.
Over his career Kazmir has been a Yankee killer, holding them to 26 runs over 87.2 innings. This includes a few good starts this season, even as he was pitching poorly. That’s not a good sign, but as we’ve seen in the playoffs, regular season results don’t necessarily carry over. The Yankees had better hope they don’t, because only three of their starters have a batting average over .200 against Kazmir — though those three, Teixeira, Melky, and Jorge, are all over .400.
Yankees
1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, 1B
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Jorge Posada, C
6. Hideki Matsui, DH
7. Robinson Cano, 2B
8. Nick Swisher, RF
9. Melky Cabrera, CF
Pitching: No. 52 Carsten Charles Sabathia
Angels
1. Chone Figgins, 3B
2. Bobby Abreu, RF
3. Torii Hunter, CF
4. Vladimir Guerrero, DH
5. Juan Rivera, LF
6. Howie Kendrick, 2B
7. Kendry Morales, 1B
8. Mike Napoli, C
9. Erick Aybar, SS
Pitching: Scott Kazmir